


Return to Ylisse: A Fire Emblem short story

by AbsolXGuardian



Category: Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Awakening, F/M, Family, Family Secrets, Named Avatar, Revelation, Time Travel, even though ships are listed I don't consiter this a shipping fic, fates, this is more focused on angst, time travel family shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-02 16:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8674234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsolXGuardian/pseuds/AbsolXGuardian
Summary: THIS WAS ORGINALLY POSTED BY ME ON FANFICTION.NET THAT IS WHY THE SAME STORY IS THERE POSTED EARILER.What if Asugi, Caeldori, and Rhajat aren’t actally clones of the Awakening characters Gaius, Cordelia, and Tharja? What if they are the same. A series of chapters explaining how they ajust to their new life and the lies that come with it.





	1. Chapter 1: Severa

Selena

* * *

 

Selena looked at Laslow and Odin, her friends..partners across time. What they were going to attempt was extremely risky. Not only that, but if they succeeded, many people would be hurt. However, there was other people waiting for them, who missed them too.

 

They were standing in a small room in the Astral Fort, it was a clothing storage room back during the war. Nowadays, it was one of the few rooms not being used by Ausgi for candy making. But that wasn’t why it was important. No, during the early-ish days of the war, a portal had opened here, one that could take them back to Ylisse. Now that the war was over and Faith was safe, they could return home.

 

“Are you sure we have to use Rhajat?”, Laslow asked, breaking the uneasy silence,”you know, ‘cause she looks like..”

 

“Tharja...yeah I know.” Odin replied. Not even Odin, the one who could make jokes in the face of death, or in their case, really really upset dragon-gods, wasn’t in a good mood today.

 

“She’s our only choice. Leo would order us to stay, same with Forrest. Orochi would want to come, since she’s your wife,” Selena said, looking at Laslow. “Nyx and Hayato” she continued,”are all the way in the wind tribe, trekking there and back would definitely raise suspicions. Ophelia wouldn’t do it either. It’s also normal for Rhajat to come here, since her husband took this place over” Odin and Laslow solemnly nodded, putting them back into that uneasy silence.

 

“I’m here.” A droning voice croned. Rhajat had arrived, her book of hexs under her arm and her supplies in a pack on her back. “Is this the spot?” she asked, looking at the spot where the stones had cracked in the shape of four lighting bolt, meeting diagonally.

 

“Yes,” Selena said.

 

Rhajat put her book on the floor and opened to a clear page in the back. This one lacked the stains and notes of the other pages. The only signifier was a scrap of paper sticking out, bookmarking it. Without speaking, Rhajat took out some chalk from her pack. Glancing at the page, every now and then, she drew the same symbol, four times, each one about four inches from the tip of a lighting bolt.

 

Selena moved to get a good look at the symbol. Rhajat had scratched out the Exalt Brand! How did she know of such a symbol? She tried to get a look at the book, without Rhajat noticing, but Laslow beat her to it. “Why are you drawing the Exalt’s Brand?” he asked. Rhajat pulled herself up to a sitting position, her legs tucked under her. “That is the symbol of the dragon of time, the guardian of the Fire Emblem.” she said, dismissing Laslow, oblivious to their suprised faces.

 

Rhajat got up and stood, facing the crack. She picked up the book. “You should stand back,” she said to the trio.

 

Rhajat put her hands out and began to chant. “ _ Nagaline , draco primum temporis , ut rescissa ego super vos in hoc tempus abruptionis. _ ” Each chalk drawing began to glow green, red, black, or purple. Rhajat’s eyes turned completely white and blue whips starting appearing above the cracks.

 

“Mother!” A female voice screamed,”You can’t go!” Selena turned to see her daughter, Caeldori running toward her.

 

 “Caeldori!” Selena said, clearly upset,”How did you find out?”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied,”you can’t leave. All of you have families here. How could you be so cruel?”

 

“It’s important,” Selena said as she fidgeted with her wedding ring,”We have family back in Ylisse too. We had to leave our parents and our spouses with no notice.”

 

“YOU’RE DOING THE EXACT SAME THING HERE!” Caeldori screamed, her voice shrilling.

 

A loud crack caused mother and daughter to stop arguing and look at the portal. The portal was wide open now, like large doors flung completely open. Some of the stones near the portal had disappeared completely, leaving a void-like black emptiness in it’s place. Rhajat had stopped chanting, her arms at her side, completely silent. The void around the portal was quickly increasing. In only a few seconds Rhajat was gone too.

 

Caeldori and Selena had started running, but Laslow and Odin were trapped behind the void. When they looked back after leaving the room, Laslow and Odin were gone. Selena stopped running. Her friend were dead. After defeating not one, but TWO dragon-gods, the thing that would kill them wasn’t a dragon, or risen, or a Vallite soldier, not even a simple human foot soldier. No..it was a malfunctioning spell. 

 

With this pause the void was able to catch up with Selena. The moment the void touched her foot, coldness swept her body. Everything faded to black. Then she saw a whirl of colors. She couldn’t feel her body, but she saw flashes of images.

 

_The Omega Yato striking down Anankos._  

 

_ Meeting Caeldori as an adult in her deeprealm. _

 

_ Marrying Subaki. _

__

_ Joining Faith’s army. _

 

_ Becoming Camila’s retainer. _

 

_ Meeting Anankos for the first time. _

 

There was also images she didn’t recognize.

 

_A man with dark blue hair killing another man in a purple robe with the Falchion._

_ A light blue haired boy and girl with the same hair color, fighting back to back. _

 

_ A land, that vaguely looked like Valla being destroyed by a dragon of ice, with fire burning inside of it. _

 

Then it was back to pictures Selena recognized.

 

_ Her mother, dying in Grima’s timeline.  _

 

_ Fighting her mother in the successful timeline. _

 

_ Anankia sacrificing herself to destroy Grimia. _

 

_ Fighting Vallite warriors with Chrom, Frederick, and Lissa in Ylisse. _

 

_Chrom helping Anankia off the ground._

 

Then everything went white. Selena or Severa as many knew her, never saw anything again.   


	2. Caeldori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caeldori, Asugi, and Rhajat find themselfves in a strange land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry about the next chapter not being posted. My computer was acting weird, so I thought the last chapter wasn't posted. Turns out I was wrong. I'll try to post as many chapter as I can before school today)

Caeldori landed with a large thud on soft grass. Her mind was foggy.  _ “What happened? Where am I?”  _ All she could remember was yelling at her mother about returning, but where were they returning too?

 

Caeldori opened her eyes to finding herself looking at glassy eyes of her...dead mother! She scrabbled up on the wet grass. “Mmmom?” she tentatively said, pushing the body. Everything that had happened can rushing back to her in crystal clear detail. A deep crushing sadness surrounded her heart, and slammed into her willpower. She collapsed over her mother’s body and began sobbing. In the still sane part of her mind, she heard someone get up.

 

“Ugh.” Asugi moaned. Caeldori tried to stifle her cries and get up to speak with Asugi. After pausing for only a moment, she collapsed again, wailing even louder.

 

“Hey,” Asugi said, approaching her, putting a hand on her shoulder,”Are you okay?”

 

“ _ No...no..none could see her crying like this. She had to put on a brave face and be the leader in this  _ _ strange  _ _ land… _ _ ” _

 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!!” Caeldori shrieked, whipping around to look at Asugi. All the blood vessels in her eyes were inflamed and tears stained her face. Asugi quickly back peddled to leave Caeldori to her mourning. In Asugi’s haste, he tripped over something, only to be caught by Rhajat at the shoulders. “I got you love.” she croned. Asugi was able to get on some better footing, only to see that what he had tripped over, was the body of Laslow.

 

 

“Wow, so they’re dead.” Asugi said, noting the body of Odin only a foot or so of Laslow.

 

“Yes. We need to get moving. Selena told me some things. This time is where they came from, roughly. The thing is, it's more likely that I under shot, rather than over shot. What I’m most worried about is someone finding their bodies, plus the lack of a clear cause of death. I already cracked the necks of Laslow and Odin, but I can’t get to where princess is sobbing.”

 

“How can you be so steely in the face of death?” Asugi asked, some fear seeping into his voice.

 

“You have no idea what I have seen.” Rhajat said, her voice suddenly getting extremely serious,”Now do you have your shuriken” she continued, back in her normal tone.

 

“Um, I have a caltrop,” Asugi said, pulling the sharp steel stick out of the folds of his clothes,”I found it while setting up the new carmel oven.”

 

“That will do,” Rhajat deadpan, grabbing the spike. She quickly began cutting up Laslow’s face with it, not even flinching at the blood at all.

 

“What the F are you doing?” Asugi said.

 

Rhajat sighed,”I’m making it look like some really sadistic bandits jumped them. She said this while looking through Laslow’s pockets. She came out with some golden coins, stamped with the face of a serene looking blond woman. There was a couple of bronze coins with the time dragon of time’s symbol. Rhajat pocketed those. She then continued cutting up Laslow’s face, until it was unrecognizable.

 

Rhajat moved over to Odin’s body, and repeated the same process. Inside Odin’s pockets, there were letters to Kargero and Ophelia, his wife and daughter. Laslow must of given Odin some letters to deliver, as there were letters for Orochi and Soeliel. Too bad they would never be delivered. Rhajat put those in her pocket too.

 

“Gods, Rhajat,” Asugi said, clearly disgusted,”why’d you do that.”

 

“You were a soldier too once, remember? It was only 8 year ago. We need to do what must be done.” She slipped her book into the big supply pack on her back, and started walking toward where Caeldori was sobbing.

 

Caeldori had run out of tears, and was simply dry sobbing, basically hyperventilating. She felt a soft kick in her side and looked up to see Rhajat standing over her. “Move it, princess.” she said to Caeldori. Caeldori silently backed away from the body and sat on the bottom half of her legs. Rhajat flipped Selena onto her back and snapped her neck with the heel of her boot. Caeldori cringed and looked away. When she cringed she saw the bloody bodies of Laslow and Odin. When she looked back, she saw Rhajat poised over Selena, caltrop in her hand. Caeldori closed her eyes for the rest of the process.

 

Caeldori felt a hand pushing at her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Rhajat standing over her.

 

“Come on, princess,” Rhajat said,”we need to get to the river.” Caeldori was so crushed by grief, she simply followed Rhajat mutely. Asugi walked up to his wife,”So...why are we heading to the river?” he asked.

 

“So we look at pitiful as possible and match our story.” Rhajat replied. Asugi looked confused, but she didn’t elaborate.

 

When they reached the river Rhajat put her pack on the ground and jumped in, clothes and all. After only a few seconds, she came out soaking wet, shivering. Asugi followed her in, but Caeldori just stood there, grief in her eyes. Rhajat pushed her in. The river was shallow enough that Caeldori could lie face down, with her back still above the water. Water and sand filled her mouth. The pegasus rider spit out the sand and climbed out. The trio now looked extremely pitiful, their clothes mostly soaked.

 

“What was that for?” Caeldori asked Rhajat, clearly upset.

 

“It’s for our story. Now nobody talk, and just follow me. I see a town up ahead.” she replied.

 

* * *

 

When they reached the town, they were stopped a guard at the gate. “Halt,” he said,”No Plegians aloud.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Rhajat said. She quickly added a ‘sir’ at the end.

 

“What do you think?” he said,”with clothes like those,” he said pointing to Rhajat’s soaking clothes,”you got to be a dark mage. Dark magic is banned in Ylisse, but you should know that already. Go back to the hell hole you came from.” he spat.

 

“Oh these,” Rhajat said, looking at her clothes,”these are...circus clothes. Yeah, I’m in the circus. I’m an acrobat. The reason they’re so dark is because my act is jumping in from the shadows.” The guard narrowed his eyes, but it seemed like he believed her story, somewhat. “We’re in a traveling circus. We were attacked by bandits. They stole our caravan. They killed everyone except for us. My friend...Calidoria,” Rhajat said, giving a fake name for her and pointing toward Caeldori,”lost her mom.” With this the posture of the guard relaxed.

 

“Okay,” he said,”go ahead. You can stay in the chapel for a while.”

 

The trio entered the walled town, starting their new life in this new land. 


	3. Gaius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asugi, under a new name has settled in Plegia, but old habits die hard and he has returned to a life of thievery.

Gaius landed on the ground of the castle of the lord of Mirimia with a barely audible thud. On his left wrist there was a golden bracelet, studded with amethysts. This he had snatched from Arthen’s vaults.

 

After Caeldori, now Cordelia, had enrolled in the Pegasus Knight Academy, Asugi and Rhajat headed west toward Plegia, so Rhajat could keep practicing dark magic. They had changed their names to Tharja and Gaius. Now Tharja ran an apothecary that sold sweets on the side. It wasn’t as large as what Gaius was preparing for back in Valla, but it was still something.

 

On the side, Gaius was also a noble thief. He would steal some small thing from a corrupt duke or lord. Nothing big like a sign of leadership or bloodline, especially if it had some magical powers, but a bracelet sitting in the treasury, gathering dust was completely fair game. The owner mostly never even noticed it was missing. He would give it to Tharja who would give it to Anna when she comes to the town every month.

 

Oh yeah, it's the same Anna that joined Faith’s army back then. Guess she’s like immortal or something? Of course, sometimes another Anna would come into town. Anna had told them that she had sisters, so they were immortal too?

 

“Halt!” a voice said.

 

Gaius turned around to see three Plegian soldiers, pointing their lances at him. Gaius swore and pulled out his sword. He would rather use a shuriken, or even a dagger, but noo..this place had no shurikens or daggers, he had to settle for swords.

 

“Hey guys,” Gaius said playfully as he backpedaled to the window behind him. Behind him he heard a sound he hadn’t heard in 18 years, magic based warping. Gaius whipped around to see three more soldiers. When one of the soldiers in front of him lunged with his lance, Gaius had to roll out of the way to avoid getting cut. When he finished rolling, slightly to the left of the two leftmost soldier, he got up, knees bent and held his sword out to his side. When the soldiers started charging, he spun around, causing the soldiers to falter. With a momentary advantage, he tried to jump toward one of the lower beams, aiming to grab with his other arm.

 

In mid air, some otherworldly force grabbed Gaius and slammed him into the ground. His sword fell out of his hand and skidded away. Landing on the hard stone, definitely hurt. He couldn’t even move, it was like something had tied him down.

 

_ Click, Click, Click,  _ went boots on the stone floor. Gaius still couldn’t get up, put he could move his neck to attempt to get a better look. Approaching him was a brown skinned woman with long white hair. She was wearing less clothes than Cammila, if that was even humanly possible. “Now, what vermin has my mouse trap caught?” she said, in a voice very similar to Cammila.

 

“Guardian Aversa,” he soilder said, saluting,”we found this thief sneaking out of here with treasure from the vaults.”

 

Aversa swatted the soldier,”Fool, that was a rhetorical question!” She picked up Gaius’s sword and placed it in her belt. She took the bracelet off of Gaius’s wrist. For the brief moment their skin touched, Gaius could feel that it was extremely cold, colder than any human should possibly be.

 

When she was done she stood up and waved her hand over Gaius. He could feel his muscles relaxing when the spell was lifted.

 

Two soldiers pulled Gaius off the ground and another handcuffed him.

 

“Now wretch,” Aversa said,”do you know what the punishment for stealing from government vaults is?”

 

Gaius gulped, not saying a word. Aversa looked at him for a moment and then slapped him. The coldness of her hand stung his cheek,”I asked you a direct question,” she said,”I expect you to answer it!”

 

Gaius gulped again,”the punishment for stealing from government vaults is seizure of your life, property, and direct family members,” he said quoting from the Plegian citizenship test.

 

“Correct,” Aversa said,”come,” she motioned to the guard, who jabbed Gaius in the back with the lance to move him along. Aversa lead Gaius through several hallways and up a couple of flights stairs, with all six of the guards as the rear guard.

 

They reached a single room in a small tower with a grimoire mounted above a table. On the table there was a small box filled with white sand. Gaius recognized this place as the room of records. Every large city, especially one with a baron or lord had a magical book, letting them identify any criminals they catch or better managing a draft. Of course, the were only for the town you resided in, but getting into another town would require transfer papers.

 

“Y’know missy,” Gaius said to Aversa,”I’m cuffed,” he said lifting his bound hands in front of him.

 

“That’s no problem.” Aversa said, dropping some red dust into the box. With a flick of her hand, Gaius felt the same spell seize his left hand and drag him forward. His feet didn’t keep up and Gaius ended up slumped under the table with his hand in the sand, his toes stinging.

 

As Gaius attempted to lift himself up, he could feel the sand hardening to the shape of his hand. By the time Gaius had pulled himself up to the table the sand had turned to hard stone, a bluish green color. Then the stone started glowing. Gaius jumped back, glancing an imprint in the shape of his hand before the edge’s of the imprinted started glowing. The grimoire started flipping, until it reached one of the last pages. The third line from the bottom started glowing the same purple color.

 

Once the glow had subsided Aversa stepped toward the book. “Let’s see,” she croned,”Gaius, wife of Tharja. No other registered family members. Hmm, Tharja has magic pottenail, self trained? Runs an apothecary on Sythen Street? Interesting. It seems I have my luck cut out for me.” Aversa smiled and a shiver ran down Gaius’s spine.

 

“ _ Gods Tharja, what horrors does this  _ witch  _ have planned for you?”  _ Gaius thought.

 

Aversa turned to the guards. “You,” she said pointing to a guard,”take him down to the cells. We need him for latter.”

 

The guard lead Gaius through a few more hallways and down a couple more stairs. Gaius made a point to remember each turn so he could create a partial mental map of the castle. This was an important part of his ninja training.  _ “Ninja training…”  _ This made Gaius think of his son back in Hoshido. His son was what? Only about a year old when they left for Ylisse. 11 years of growing up without a parent. Hopefully Saizo was taking good care of Lil’Saizo. This was the first time Gaius had thought about his son in a long time.

 

Gaius broke out of his thoughts to see that they had just passed an open window a flight of stairs ago. After going down a lot of stairs and coming out to a wide-ish hallway, he decided it was time to escape.

 

He paused, but before the guard could jab him with his spear, Gaius kicked him in the groin. The soldier buckled down and Gaius ran for the stairs, his hands still bound. Halfway up the stairs, he turned around to see that the soldier had gotten up and was charging at him. Gaius spread his feet out, and placed his hand infront of his lower chest. He tried to spread his arms out as much as the chain would allow. The stairs were long enough for three people, so it was a fine place for a fight.

 

Gaius blocked the jab with the chain. The point only bounced off the chain instead of it getting stuck a link. His reactions were slow when he didn’t realize that the guard stopped the lance mid-pushback and slammed the edge into the thief's shoulder.

 

Pain exploded in his brain, clouding his thoughts. It felt like the crack through his shoulder was on fire. He could feel the blood soaking his shirt. Normally  his reaction  times  were  better and it would be a simple nick…..  Black splotches started filling Gaius’s sight until it was all black.


	4. Tharja

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tharja has settled down into a comfortable life in Plegia, but all of that is about to change.

__

Tharja sat in the table of the kitchen of their small three room house attached to the apothecary. She was writing out a list of ingredients for the next mail order for Anna, cross referencing her hex book and sometimes a smaller, cleaner, more professional looking book she purchased from a bookseller of Plegian spells. The thing was that since Tharja had a book filled with Norian and Hoshidan spells she got a little niche in the charm market.

 

This was ironic because most evidence pointed to Ylisse being the far far future of where they came from. Hosidio and Nohr were record as simple myths, sometimes Valla too. The main story about Valla depicted it as a utopia, it was then destroyed by some threat from within, usually descended from the queen. Each retelling involved ice, fire, dragons, or any combination of the three.

 

Tharja looked up from her work to the other side of the table. The meal she had made for Gaius, a soup of carrots and broth was cold and untouched. He was off stealing from the duke, but was very late.

 

Tharja jumped out of her seat when she heard three sharp knocks on the door. This couldn’t be Gaius, as he would've slipped in through the open window. She opened the door to see 5 Plegian soldiers standing there.

 

“Tharja,” the middle soilder said, reading off a notice,”you are under arrest and all magical books are to be seized.”

 

Tharja crossed her arms over her chest “Under whose orders and with what charges?” she shot back almost immediately, with a lot of sass.

 

“Guardian Aversa,” the soldier repilled remaining level headed,”You’re being arrested because your husband, Gaius stole from royal vaults. You know the punishment.”

 

Tharja nodded, she knew the risk Gaius took whenever he stole, but she still couldn’t believe he was captured.

 

So now the choice was to fight or submit quietly. Her tomes were in the storage room and they could skewer her before she could reach them. Even if they needed her alive, they could heal her up with staffs back at the castle.

 

“Aversa as informed us that the less you resist, the more leniency will be given to both you and your husband,”

 

Tharja didn’t believe him. The captain probably believed it himself, but he was a simple tool. A subject who fully believed in the benevolence of Grimia. Who she didn’t trust was Aversa. For all she knew, Aversa could be one of the few honor-bound servants of Grimia, but that was highly unlikely. It was more likely that this was just a lie to get her to come quietly, however if she did try to escape and failed she could lash out in rage, worsening the punishment.

 

Tharja held out her hands, palms down as the heavy shackles were clamped around her wrists. “My hex books are on the table and a thunder tome is stored in the back. Do try not to destroy any of my supplies. They are very valuable.”

 

The captain nodded and brushed past her into the room in the back. The guards looked at each other. Tharja was standing in a small hallway, only enough for one other soldier to fit. He was pointing his spear at her, but the rest of the troops were stuck outside and seemed unsure whether they should stand at attention or also point their spears at her.

 

Tharja casually leaned against the wall like she was sitting in the shade of a booth people watching market goers, completely ignoring the guard.

 

In a little bit the captain came back into the hallway carrying all of Tharja’s book’s in both his hands and his lance was holstered on his back.

 

The guards lead Tharja through the street in the dead of night. No-one else was out, except for a few Grimleal walking around in their hooded robes. They took Tharja and placed her in a small tower that had no windows and only a small illumination rock implanted on the ceiling for light.

 

After a long-ish amount of time, in which Tharja occupied herself by listen to the subtle hum of Plegia. When she entered Plegia after fleeing Ylisse, she heard the hum late at night. Whenever she got close a Grimleal temple, it would be strong. Heck, even some Grimleal gave off the hum. When she took the time to focus on it, it was very pleasing. It gave her the same good feeling she got whenever she got close to Faith, just weaker. When she had something to focus on, the hum was basically gone. She had no idea if anyone else experienced it.

 

With a creak the wooden door opened, letting in some more light. A short hooded Grimleal walked into the room, her face covered by an opaque black veil. Following her was a brown-skinned woman with white hair. She wore tight black clothing with many..oh, what did Cordelia call them, yes ‘stabbing holes’. On top her head sat a twisted black crown.

 

“Aversa,” the Grimleal said in a very young sounding female voice that sounded vaguely familiar to Tharja,”is  _ that _ the mage you expect me to work with?” as she was looking over Tharja.

 

“Yes,” Aversa replied,”she has a strong connection to the thief and seems to be quite skilled,”

 

“Fine, bring in the books and we’ll plan,” she replied. Aversa opened her mouth, about to say something when the Grimleal cut her off,” _ alone _ . I can protect myself you know.” Aversa nodded and left.

 

In the short period of time between Aversa leaving and returning with Tharja’s Plegian magic book and her personal hex book the Grimleal looked around the room, but never made eye contact with Tharja.

 

Once Aversa returned, the Grimleal took the books and set them down by Tharja on the floor. She sat down on the floor and fantractly grabbed the personal book and opened to the back cover. “I knew it” she whispered.

 

An idea hit Tharja.  _ “No, that couldn’t be it. No she has to be dead. But her voice… Mother?” _

 

The Grimleal was now staring Tharja in the eyes. Through the veil she could see the swirl on her forehead. “Mother?” Tharja said, only daring to whisper. She could see, through the veil, tears gathering in her mother’s eyes. Nyx lunged forward and hugged her daughter. Tharja tried to reach around to hug her mother, but the chains on her wrist couldn’t reach.

 

Nyx finished hugging her daughter and sat on her knees.

 

“Why are you working with the Grimleal?” Tharja whispered.

 

“I just want it all to end.” she replied,”Death would be a sweet release for me. Everyone dies, so why put it off, but not for me,”

 

“Mother what are you talking about?” Tharja asked, looking into her mother’s eyes.

 

_ C r e a k. _ Nyx jumped up to see that Aversa had opened the door.

 

“Are you ready?” Aversa asked Nyx.

 

“Yes, milady,” she replied,”an er...memory erasing rite and an explicit recognition spell. Yes, those should work.”

 

“What ingredients do we need?” the guardian asked.

 

“Rha..the mage has the potential to do the memory erase on her own, without any stones. The explicit recognition spell needs dried nixshade petals and some of the target’s hair.”

 

“Nixshade?” Aversa asked Nyx.

 

“A common herb in stealth spells. Native to Regna Ferox, but was a big pre-war export. This lead to a reasonable availability in both Plegia and Ylisse.” Nyx replied,”Small amounts are used in fever cures.”

 

“Would it make sense for an apothecary to have some in stock,” Aversa asked.

 

Tharja knew how this was going. If Gaius was captured Aversa could raid the apothecary easily.

 

“I have one nixshade flower in stock,” Tharja said. As bad as she felt about it, clearing Gaius’s memories would let him go free. Sure she there could still be punishment for her, but really the worst it seemed they would do with Gaius was make him an assassin, as they wouldn’t do all this prep if it was for normal punishment.

 

“You better not be lying, rat,” Aversa said.

 

Both Nyx and Aversa left Tharja to her silence again.  _ “Gods, I can’t believe that Nyx is still alive. I mean she can’t die of old age, but still. I would've expected her to die from some other cause. Wait didn’t she say that she couldn’t die?”  _ Tharja spent most of the time trying to figure out the meaning of Nyx’s comment as she waited for Aversa and her mother to return.

 

The door swung open, hitting the stone wall with a  _ thump.  _ Gaius was pushed into the room. He looked okay, but the sleeve of his shirt was ripped. The thief fell onto his knees and his wife ran to hug him.

 

“You’re okay, right?” she asked, letting some tears well up.

 

“Yeah, it’s was a pretty narley wound, but they had a staff.”

 

Tharja reached out to touch the shoulder. It was the soft and pale skin of a recently healed wound. They both hugged each other as much as the shackles aloud.

 

The dark mage felt a sharp in the small of her back as she was pulled backward, away from Gaius. Both Nyx and Aversa had entered the room.

 

“We have the nixshade,” Aversa said,”so get on with it.” Tharja saw Gaius mouth “ _ what the..” _ , but looked away.

 

“I need my shackles unlocked,” she replied,”and my book,” her voice cracked.

 

Aversa motioned to Nyx and she grabbed the book and brought it in front of her daughter. She flipped to the proper page after three tries. She then took a small key out of her cloak and unlocked the shackles. They fell to the ground.

 

As Nyx was about to leave, Tharja grabbed her hand. Nyx stared into her daughter’s eyes. She reached into the pocket of her cloak with her free hand and brought out a small black stone on a string. Tharja reached out for the charm and took it. She closed her hand around it, hiding it from Aversa’s view.

 

Making a point not to look at Gaius, at all Tharja bent down to read the spell. After memorizing the chant, she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.

 

_ “Anankos da vi memorativa. See secert in facies suas.” _

 

The rest of the world faded away, replaced by an endless white misty plain. Tharja could no longer feel her body, but the charm she clutched in her hand throbbed. She could see three clouds. These were the memories of Nyx, Aversa and Gaius. She moved toward where Nyx was standing. It wasn’t like walking, more like projecting her vision to that point as she could still feel the charm at her starting position.

 

She got when she reached the light that was her mother’s memories she felt a wall.

 

**_“No.”_ **

 

_ “What do you mean?” _

 

**_“I’m not letting you into my mind.”_ **

_ “I..” _

 

**_“Just do your thing.”_ **

 

_ “I just wanted to tell you, that I love you. I missed you.”  _ Tharja could feel her mother’s happiness spilling past her defenses. Tharja turned her focus toward her own memories. She found the one of her crying in Gaius’s arms, back then Asugi. They were sitting by a fire. Cordelia had already gone to sleep. She had just realized the separation of time. They weren’t on a long war mission. They were lost from their parents, their son. She copied the memory and left it at the edge of Nyx’s defenses.

 

Nyx must of let her defenses down to accept the memory as she saw it being accepted by her mother’s mind.

 

_ “What happened to Lil’Saizo?” _

 

**_“Beruka and Saizo raised him after you...left. He became a successful ninja, a retainer to Shiro at only 13.”_ **

 

Tharja stepped away from her mother. She turned her sights to Gaius’s light. She reached to touch the light and her hand went right into it. Flashes of memory filled her mind; being accepted into Faith’s army, Gaius becoming her boyfriend, getting married, meeting Lil’Saizo. Tharja looked away. All she needed to no was siphon them. She tried to bring them into her mind, but couldn’t fit them all. She need to direct them someone. She couldn’t let them dissolve. When she started directing one memory, she could feel the charm more distinctly. On a whim she directed the memory there. It was accepted! She quickly moved all the memories to the stone.

 

When Gaius’s mind was now empty. When the spell was done, he wouldn’t be reduced to a baby. He would still know how to steal. His mind would fill in the cracks with vague memories based on the facts he already knew. He wouldn’t know about Valla anymore, as without memories, the information of the past kingdoms made no sense. The human mind was a very egotistic thing. It wouldn’t accept the lack of memories. He would only realize the blank when if he was asked to recount a specific pre-wipe memory.

 

Tharja broke the spell. The plain disappeared and Tharja fell over, temporarily unused to having a body.  Gaius was unconscious on the floor. Any major spell would do that to you.

 

What had she done? She had ruined the mind of her husband. The mage collapsed crying.

 

“I’ll do the recognition spell.” Nyx said,”We need to move fast before Asu..the prisoner wakes up.”

 

Tharja looked up to see her mother taking a small knife and cutting off some of Gaius’s hair. She then sprinkled dried nixshade on hair. Nyx then place her hand on the hair, but the magical glow could still be seen.

 

After she finished and stuffed into into her pocket, Gaius looked no different. However, she knew, that anyone who wasn’t here today wouldn’t recognize Gaius, even if they knew him before. 


	5. Cordelia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now a pegasus knight in Ylisse, Cordelia has been accepted into the Shepards.

_ I have cried for the second time in my life today. The first time was when my mother died. Since then I have left my friends to follow their own path. I started working in a library in the capitol, but it seemed like boring and unimportant work. I joined the Pegasus Academy. It was easy due to my previously existing experience. A random person signing up for the army was suspicious, especially considering they could ace basicly any test thrown at them. I was eventually accepted. _

 

_ Then when the Shepherds were escorting the Exalt, Plegian forces attacked the capital. All of my squad except for me was killed. I got on Sabbuke and flew straight to where the Exalt should be. I met up with the Shepherds. After a battle, I was accepted into the shepards. _

 

_ I was given the tent that Sumia used and set up another bed. When Sumia was out of the tent, I just collapsed, sobbing. Nobody heard my wailing, or if they did they heeded Sumia’s warning to leave me alone. _

 

Cordelia lifted her ink pen off the scroll. Normally she didn’t write diary entries, but she really needed to get her thoughts out. She was intentionally vague in case someone saw it while it dried.

 

“Hey, you okay in there?” Cordelia looked up to see Sumia entering. She had removed her armor, but still had her purple battledress on. The pegasus night plopped down onto her bedroll.

 

“Yeah I’m fine,” Cordelia replied, setting a rock over part of the a paper to keep it down as it dried during the night.

 

“Hey, what’s that,” Sumia said, looking over at the paper,”Oh, Cordelia, I didn’t know you lost your mom.” Sumia must not of had proper balance, as she fell face first onto the paper.

 

Sumia got up. Her face was covered in black ink,”Oh gods Corda. I’m so sorry,” she said.

 

“It's okay Sum,” she said, “We can head down to the river and clean you up.”

 

“Okay,” she said nodding.

 

Sumia went ahead while Cordelia looked at the paper. It was completely smudged. She grabbed the paper and folded it up. It was worthless now. She would just toss it into the fire. She took the lantern and went out to follow her friend.

 

The fire was still going, and seemed to have fresh wood in it. Cordelia looked and saw their tactician, Anankia, reading a book by it.

 

“Hey Cordelia,” the tactician said.

 

“Oh, hi,” the pegasus knight said.

 

“I had a question to ask you.” she replied.

 

“Sure ask away.”

  
“Well this book here says that Plegia is defined by large deserts..”

 

“Wait, you didn’t know that already?” Cordelia said shocked,”Any Ylissean kid knows that.”

 

“Amnesia,” she replied, tapping her head.

 

“Oh gods, I’m so sorry ma'am.”

 

“It's okay,” Anankia replied,”Anyway, Once we get into Plegia we are going to have to reconsider our scouting guard. Horses would have a lot of trouble walking on the sand. Any suggestions?”

 

“Well Ricken knows a sand harding spell, but expanding it past himself would be challenging, same for Mirel. Sumia and I can ride our pegasi… Gods, I left Sumia alone, in the dark.”

 

Anankia stood up. “Should I come with you?”

 

“No, you don’t have a lantern and I can’t wait. Just stay by the fire,” Cordelia ran out of the camp, not bothering to look to see if the tactician followed her.

 

“Sumia! Sumia! Sumia!” Cordelia traversed the woods, slowing making her way to the stream. The trees weren’t so thick that moonlight was blocked, but she was still thankful for her lantern.

 

In the distance, to her left, Cordelia heard sobbing. The knight ran toward the position of the cries.

 

Cordelia found Sumia on her side. Her leg was wrapped up in a root. Sticks filled her hair and there were some small tears in her battle dress. The ink was still on her face, but it had dried and smudged more.

 

Cordelia ran forward and lifted her friend’s face up. “Are you okay?”

 

“No, I’m worthless,” she replied.

 

Cordelia crouched down to her friend’s level.“No, you know that’s not true. You’re one of the best pegasus filers we have in the shepards. Maybe you didn’t notice, but you took out the entire southern wyvern brigard this morning. They couldn’t even get into Virion’s range before you knocked them out of the sky.”

 

“I’m not talking about battle,” Sumia sobbed out,”I’m talking about all this.” She motioned to her leg with her free hand. “Who cares how strong I am if I miss a battle because I’m stuck in the woods?”

 

Cordelia felt around for a sharp stone to cut the root with. She began sawing at the root, placing the lantern near the root for better lighting. It was hard work.

 

“Hey, Cord,” Sumia said,”when the shepherds were resting up in Regna Ferox, Chrom told me this interesting story.” Cordelia kept sawing. Whenever Cordelia had to spent a long time rescuing her, she would tell her stories. “Apparently when Lissa, Frederick, and Chrom were on their own, the same day they found Anankia. They found a group of five disoriented people. The weird thing was, they had armor and weapons. The leader, a woman with blue hair, a lot like Anankia’s, said that they were from far away. They were chasing after ‘invisible warthogs’ and needed the Shepard’s help in defeating them, to prevent further damage.”

 

“There was also a gray haired man who called the lady his “liege”, a pink haired Cleric who didn’t say much, a quiet blue haired war dancer, and a red-headed sword user.”

 

Cordelia paused. Sumia had just accurately described Queen Faith, Jakob, Princess Sakura, Princess Azura, and her mother. War dancers were so rare, that Azura technically being a songstress could easily be overlooked.

 

Sumia continued,”Apparently the leader was a princess of Nohr and Hoshido.” Sumia snorted,”I’m calling wyvern dung on that one.”

 

What was Faith doing in Ylisse? Maybe the portal that Rhajat reopened to enter Ylisse was the same one. She had heard Faith jokingly call Vallite soldiers ‘invisible warthogs’ on the campaign in Valla…

 

“Anyway,” Sumia continued,”the weirdest part was the redhead. Chrom found her hiding in some bushes. She said she knew of you. She also told Chrom to give you a message ‘Tell her you met a girl named Selena who swears to surpass her someday’,”

 

Cordelia dropped the rock and stared at the root. “ _ How does mother know about me? She always said I looked like her mother, but...no it can’t be,”  _ she pushed the unsavory option out of her mind.

 

“Cord, are you okay?” Sumia asked, craning her neck to see her friend.

 

_ “ _ Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Cordelia stuttered out. She sawed quickly and broke the root. She then started unwrapping it from her friend’s leg.

 

Standing up, she helped Sumia to her feet, walking back toward camp, trying to push thoughts of her mother far from her mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter plans are: Tharja’s recruitment, a modified version of Gaius’s and Tharja’s S support, Severa’s recruitment, and Anankos drawing the Awakening trio to the tree of Valm. I might do something with Anankia’s past using Lucina, tieing it to Fates, but it depends how busy school is/it starting or not.  
> Also if anyone was confused about Gaius’s hair color, he has orange hair, even though his mother is Beruka. Same with Tharja. She has her canon hair even though Nyx puts it a shade off in game.


	6. Tharja

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being captured, Tharja was sent to a slave camp in Plegia. Now she has been moved to the Plegiean castle as a false audience for the execution of the Exalt.

 

Tharja sat on a bench in a dark room. Soldiers sat all around her. There wasn’t even enough light to see the words on the tomes they gave her before stuffing her down here. She could hear her fellow soldiers speaking to each other in hushed tones. Most of them were slaves or criminals. Why they trusted them with weapons was a mystery. She knew a few of them were drafted from homes, missing their families, scared of dying here.

 

After Gaius was sent away to gods know where she was placed in a labor camp. After 2 years in there Gangrel arrived and took a majority of the slaves. After a little bit of training, they were split up and sent across Plegia. Tharja had arrived a few days ago. The castle of Plagia. Apparently this was where the Exalt of Ylisse was to be executed.

 

Tharja flinched when the door was swung open. “Go, wretches,” a man said from outside,”run out into the courtyard,” All the people in the small room ran out into the sun as quickly as possible. They spread out to see other soldiers, dressed in better armor, carrying better weapons.

 

“Good people! Warriors of Plegia!” A voice called out. Tharja looked up to see the King of Plegia standing on the lower jaw of the dragon that made up a large part of the courtyard. “Welcome! Welcome, one and all! Your anticipation electrifies the air! We ALL remember the crimes of Ylisse... Would you have their witch-queen answer for them? Here? Today? NOW? YEEEEEEEEEEEES! Finally, we will have JUSTICE! EXECUTIONER! If you would be so kind…”

 

Tharja looked to where Gangrel was gesturing. On the wing bone of the dragon stood a woman, the Exalt. The executioner raised his axe. The exalt wouldn’t even look at her killer.

 

An axe flew from the air, hitting the executioner in the neck, throwing him from the cliff. Tharja didn’t know if the wound or the fall killed him.

 

She looked to see two women on the back of a sliver Regna Ferox pegasus. The one who clearly had just throw the axe lowered herself and signed to the woman in the front, who steered it away.

 

Gangrel looked to see something beyond the wall of the castle. “Bwa ha!” he cackled,”We've been expecting you, Little Prince. Men: Kill him. Kill his sister. Kill his troops and his friends and anyone else you find! KILL THEM AAAAAAAAALL!”

 

All the soldiers in the courtyard began running out toward the advancing army. Tharja separated from the main group. She drew out her Elthunder tome and hid in the shadows. If any commander asked, she would say she was planning a small ambush. “So we're to kill or die here, simply because the king commands it?” she whispered to herself,”Pfft. What do I care of these Ylisseans? We're given no reasons to fight, only orders. What's the point? Besides, I've always been quite good at choosing who to hate on my own…”

 

A redheaded pegasus knight was speeding through the troops, leaving most to be taken out by the rear guard.

 

The man sitting behind the knight motioned to her. She angled toward Tharja’s location and allowed him to hop off. The knight was covering the soldier's back, lance at the ready..

 

“You there! Are you with the Plegians? You seem reluctant to fight.” he said, looking at Tharja. His hand was firmly on his sword, ready to draw if she attacked.

 

“Death comes for all of us eventually. Why invite it early, fighting for a cause I don't believe in?” she replied.

 

“So...I should take that as a no, or…” he said, uncertain.

 

“Let's just say I'm keeping my options open. I mean, long live the king and all, but I'd like to keep living as well. And I have a bit of a rebellious streak, I'm afraid. A...dark side.”

 

“Then perhaps you would rebel now and fight for our cause?” he said. Tsk..how naive.

 

“...You would trust me? What if this is just a ploy to plunge a dagger in your back?” she said, uncertain. She saw that he had released his hand from the sword.

 

“My sister, the exalt,” he said. So, this was Prince Chrom of Ylisse,”I think she would trust you. And I'm trying to learn from her. Besides, I already need to watch my back, whether you're with us or not.”

 

“Well, that's odd... Usually when I bring up the backstabbing bit the discussion is over. All right, then—consider me your new ally. ...For now.” she said.

 

“Okay. I’ll get our tactician over here. You guys can fight together.” Chrom said. He hopped back of the pegasus. When the knight turned her mount, Tharja got a glimpse of her face.  _ “Cordelia..” _ Tharja saw the shock in her face, but Cordelia turned the mount toward the sky where the wyverns flew without a word.

 

A Grimleal ran through the troops. Tharja prepared a spell. She didn’t feel comfortable murdering her ex-comrades but striking down a Grimleal was just fine.

 

The Grimleal lifted off their hood and held out her hands in a semi-surrender. “Wait,” she said,”don’t attack.”

 

A shiver went down Tharja’s spine. Her hair...it was just like Faith’s...the ears weren’t the same, but her aura was the same. An aura of proud silver power, floating untapped above the woman. This aura had a dark underbelly though, one Faith’s didn’t possess.

 

“Um, are you okay?” she said.

 

Tharja realised she had closed her eyes and was just standing there. “Uh..yeah,” she said opening her eyes,”I’m fine.”

 

“Okay.. I’m Anankia, the Ylissean tactician, and you’re?”

 

“Tharja.”

 

“Okay, just follow me. If you don’t want to fight, you can just stand behind me and support me.”

 

There weren’t that many soldiers left, but soon they were all dead. Tharja didn’t care that they were mostly drafted men with families, or criminals who made a mistake. Tharja felt no twinge of guilt. She didn’t feel anything anymore.

 

The Ylissean army was regrouping in front of the courtyard. Healers were tending to the more seriously wounded. Tharja walked through the troops, trying to find Cordelia. Two pegasus knights flew down from the sky. Tharja ran toward them, seeing the red hair of Cordelia above the soldiers.

 

She pushed through in time to see Chrom jumping of Cordelia’s pegasus.

 

“Anankia!,” he called,”Their wyvern riders have fallen! The skies are clear! I'm giving the signal!” Chrom motioned with his hand and three pegasus knights began flying toward Emmeryn’s location.

 

The knights paused, looking down. Tharja turned to see four humanoid  _ creatures,  _ their bows aimed at the pegasi.

 

Anankia swore. ”...Risen?! Oh gods, no! Chrom! There are Risen everywhere!”

 

“Damn! Not now!” Chrom shouted.

 

“Bwa ha ha!” Gangrel was standing on a balcony in one of the buildings overlooking the courtyard. Standing aside him was  _ Aversa _ . Tharja curled her hand into a fist. She knew her spell couldn’t reach that far, but if it could, she would murder that witch here and now. She wouldn’t even honor her with Nosferatu. Her life force didn’t even  _ deserve  _ to be absorbed.

 

“Oh, did an army of living corpses just APPEAR out of the blue?! Truly, the heavens smile upon mighty King Gangrel this day! Bwa ha ha ha!”

 

There was a twang and the apparent leader of the pegasus, who had resumed rescuing the Exalt fell from the sky. The arrow had hit the pegasus in the chest, so deep that the winged horse was now dead. Blood blossomed on the horse's chest as it fell.

 

“Phila” the Exalt cried, but it didn’t matter. Phila, gripping her partner’s neck was a good as dead. She would fall until she reached the hard stone. Then she would be dead, to far for the army to even recover the body.

 

“Exeunt one pegasus knight! Bwa ha ha! Watch how they fall, one by one!” Gangrel shouted. Both of the other pegasus knights were killed. Both were killed with a shot to their own neck, spooking the pegasi. The winded horses flew away to the horizon, the limp bodies of their riders coming with them.

 

Tharja didn’t realize that she had grabbed Cordelia’s reins until she felt Cordelia trying to take off.

 

“Don’t be stupid,” Tharja whispered,”You’ll just get yourself killed,”

 

“I believe this is what they call a reversal of fortunes.” Gangrel croned,”Now...grovel before me. Plead! Beg for your worthless lives!”

 

Chrom had drawn his sword and pointed it at Gangrel “I'd give up my life before I'd beg for it from you.” he proclaimed.

 

“Oh, now THAT is a good line.” Gangrel replied,”A fitting epitaph for your tombstone, perhaps? But it's not just your life in the balance. The exalt still stands upon the block. And I have a dozen bows trained on her. All it would take is one word from me…”

 

“Emm! Hold on, I'm—” Chrom called, looking toward his sister.

 

“ARCHERS! If this Ylissean pup so much as twitches, let fly your arrows!”

 

Chrom’s sword began shaking,”I...I’LL KILL YOU!” he screamed, every syllable dripping with rage.

 

“Go ahead! I welcome it. Just know you were responsible for Big Sister's bloody demise! ...And what of the rest of you?” Gangrel looked around, “Eh? Who wants the honor of killing the exalt? ...No one? Bah! Your merry band isn't quite so headstrong anymore, is it? Pathetic!” Tharja could see a Cleric holding a rescue staff, her face pressed against the wood. From the tears streaking her face, it was clear that the Exalt was out of range.

 

“DAMN YOU!” Chrom wailed, his sword shaking violently.

 

“Now, now, my boy—no one needs die today. Not you.” Gangrel replied. He was taunting Chrom with this calmness. “Not the exalt. Not your friends. Just lay down your sword, and give me the Fire Emblem.”

 

“Chrom! You can't trust him!” Anankia said.

 

“Of COURSE I can't trust him!” Chrom began to lower his sword. “I'm not an idiot! But if I just say no, he'll kill her! The gods are cruel, damn them! My sister or my duty... A problem with no right answer, yet I must choose!”

 

“I know it's hard to admit, Chrom, but it's the only choice. Compared to the lives of thousands, one person, any one person, is—” Anankia said. She was speaking softly now, trying to convince Chrom to yield.

 

“DON'T!” he screamed, dropping his sword into the sand. “Just...don't say it.”

 

“What's this? You'll let your sister and ruler die, all to save some old family trinket? Oh, so delicious! I can't WAIT to hear what your people have to say about it. ‘THE EXALT IS DEAD! LONG LIVE HER MURDERER!’ Your halidom will collapse before you could even begin your rule…”

 

“We'll see, when the time comes.” Chrom said, steely cold determination returning to his voice. “But first, I'll see you dead.” He stood up, holding his sword, pointing it at Gangrel.

 

“No, wait!” Everyone looked up to see Emmeryn holding her arms out.

 

“SILENCE!” Gangrel yelled.

 

“King Gangrel,” she said, not a single bit of hate in her voice,”is there no hope you will listen to reason?”

 

“You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble?! I think not. No, all I want to hear now is the THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground. Take one, long, last look from your perch. You do so enjoy looking down on people... Then prepare to meet the ground, and your maker! That is, unless someone were to give me the Emblem... NOW!”

 

“ALL RIGHT! All right…,” Chrom began unstrapping the Fire Emblem from his shoulder,”Emm, I know you won't approve, but this is my final decision. MAYBE someday we'll face a crisis where MAYBE the Emblem would've helped... But I know for a fact that Ylisse needs you, today! The people need their exalt... And we need our sister. If those dark days should come, we'll face them together.” Chrom now held the Emblem in his hands.

 

“Chrom... Th-thank you. I know now what I must do…” Emmeryn said.

 

“Plegians!” Emmeryn proclaimed. Her voice was loud enough that anyone in the castle who was in a room with an open window could hear. “I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do. See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!” Emmeryn stepped forward. Chrom began running, leaving both his sword and the Fire Emblem in the sand.

 

Emmeryn took another step…

 

And another…

 

Now her toes were over the edge. She leaned forward and fell.

 

The Cleric with the rescue staff screamed.

 

Cordelia buried her face in her mount’s mane.

 

Anankia looked down.

 

Chrom collapsed where he was. “DAMN YOU, GANGREL!” he screamed as loud as he could, then he began sobbing.

 

“Bwa ha ha haa! Well now! ...How disgustingly noble. And so lovely a fall! Here I thought death to be an ugly thing. I've never seen one fall so gracefully, in fact. ...And I've seen many fall. Ah... So ends Emmeryn, Ylisse's most exalted! But how can we ensure everyone remembers this beautiful moment of her sacrifice? Perhaps we should gather up her body and put it on display! Bwa ha ha…”

 

Chrom stood up and faced Gangrel. “GANGREL! YOU DIE TODAY!” he screamed.

 

Two people rushed in from behind where the army was gathered. “No, boy!” the man said,”I secured and escape route! We have to flee!”

 

“B-but...her body... I have to…” Chrom turned to face them. His face was streaked with tears.

 

“You have to RUN! Now do it! Anankia! Don't let him do anything stupid!” he said. The army broke out of their stupor and began following them. Chrom grabbed his sword and Emblem from the sand, hastily sheathing it and reattaching the Emblem.

 

As they began traveling, rain began to fall.  _ How fitting.  _ It was like the gods themselves were morning Emmeryn’s death.

 

They were running through a ravine. When they reached the top, they found it swarming with Plegian soldiers.

 

“Ylisseans! I offer you mercy!” The general said,”Surrender to me now and live!”

 

“Surrender?” the man who bailed them out said,”Sorry, I'm not familiar with the word.”

 

“Emmeryn would not have wished for this to come to bloodshed."

 

“DON’T SPEAK HER NAME!” Chrom yelled.

 

“Your rage is justified, Prince Chrom. But the meaning of your sister's final sacrifice was not lost on me. I suspect many Plegians who heard her final words would say the same. If you lay down your weapons, I vow to protect you as best I can.”

 

One of the knights nudged his horse forward “How can we trust you after what your barbarous king has done? I think we shall take our chance with weapons in hand!”

 

“I suspected you would say as much. So be it, Prince Chrom. I shall endeavor to grant you a swift and dignified end.” The general pulled out his axe.

 

“Get into your normal pairings.” Anankia said. “Err...Cordelia you can go with Libra and Tharja you can go with Gaius,”

 

Tharja’s world stopped spinning. Gaius was here. Cordelia wouldn’t recognize him, but still. She didn’t want to see him again, not after what she had done.

 

The rest of the army began charging toward the troops. Gaius came to stand by her. “Come on Sunshine,” he said,”we gotta get going.

 

Tharja closed her eyes, a single tear falling down her cheek. She whipped it away before Gaius could see. “O-kay. I’m coming. You lead the way, I’ll support” 


	7. Tharja

Tharja peeked out from behind a tent in camp. There he was, Gaius. She had hexed him to find her attractive. Now she was making sure the antidote worked. She just wanted it to be like old times, but it couldn’t be, not anymore. No..she wasn’t worthy not after what she had done.

 

“Um, Tharja?” Gaius said, not even turning around,”Why are you following me around?”

 

Tharja walked out from behind the tent. “I want to make sure the antidote continues to work.” Tharja looked and the ground, not looking up at Gaius.

 

Gaius turned around “Oh, right,” he said,”That. Um, ha ha ha! Of course it worked! Of...course. He put his hand behind his neck and did a fake laugh,”...Er, it DID work, right?” he said, leaning in.

 

“You are completely free of any spell, curse, or hex.” Tharja lied. The curses she had cast those years ago were undetectable, except for by someone extremely powerful. She couldn’t tell him, he would hate her.

 

“Huh. 'Cause you see, there's one liiittle problem with that” Gaius replied,”I still find you incredibly attractive, and I think I'm in love with you.”

 

Tharja looked down. A tear began forming. This didn’t feel like triumph or happiness, just sadness and guilt. “Ww-ow…” she choked out. “Okay, that IS a problem”

 

“There's only one cure for this condition,” Gaius said,”You must accept...this..” Tharja looked up. Gaius was holding out a simple black ring. Silver lines streaked across the ring. That was the ring she had given him when they married. He must of found it in his clothes when he woke up, assuming it was something he had stolen, but still hung on to it.

 

Tharja wiped the tear away with the back of her hand. “...A ring?” she whispered.

 

“I had to be sure it wasn't your magic that made me fall for you.” he said. He hadn’t noticed the tear.

 

Tharja closed her eyes, not saying a word.

 

“Okay, look. You want the truth?” Gaius said,”I've been interested in you for a while. Long before you ever tried casting a spell, anyway. I just didn't know a way to chat you up that didn't end with you hurling fireballs at me,”

 

“I-I can not accept,” Tharja said, keeping her eyes closed, tears forming, catching in her eye-lashes.

 

“Why?” Gaius said, remaining upbeat,”Is it because of Anankia...why are you crying?”

 

“J-just come to my tent. I’ll explain everything there.”

 

“Er..okay?”

 

The two of of them walked toward Tharja’s tent. She shared it with Miriel, technically, though Miriel spent most of her time in a lab she built in the corner of one of the convoy wagons.

 

When they reached the tent, Tharja sat cross-legged on her bedroll, while Gaius plopped down on Miriel’s.

 

“So, what’s this all about?”

 

“Do you remember anything about your childhood?” Tharja said.

 

“Wha? What kinda question is that? Of course I remember my childhood.”

 

“Then tell me a story about your childhood. Or your parents’ names.” The spell didn’t leave any blank spaces. Gaius would think that he could remember his childhood, but as soon as he was asked to give any specific information, those illusions would crumble.

 

“Er..well...no…” Pure shock and terror filled Gaius’s face. “I-I don’t have any...all I have is my name...and..”

 

“It's okay,” Tharja said,”Your parent’s names are; Beruka, retainer to Queen Camila of Hosido and Princess of Nohr and Saizo the fifth of the Igasato clan, retainer to Ryoma, King of Hosido. You have a son named Lil’Saizo.” Tharja didn’t know why she said all those names and titles. She just missed being able to say them.

 

“What? That doesn’t make any sense? I’ve never heard of those kingdoms?” Gaius paused,”Also who the hell would name their kid after their father?”

 

Tharja gave a somlem laugh. She pulled the necklace her mother gave her out from under she shirt. She had kept it all this time.

 

_ “Anankos da vi memorativa,”  _ she recited. She had memorized the words, even without her book. She had memorized that words that caused this, now she would fix it. “ _ See secert in facies suas.” _

 

The familiar white plain appeared. Now she could see the the minds of the Shepherds in the distance.

 

Before she started returning Gaius’s memories, a overly complex mind attracted her attention. It was a small orb with a chained larger orb behind it. Tharja assumed that it was Anankia’s. However the strange part was the memories being locked, rather than erased. That may explain why Anankia knew that she was missing memories, as her mind felt the chains. That problem was that no spell she knew of chained memories, rather than destroying them. Even trauma couldn’t chain that many memories.

 

The strangest part was the other orb. This orb was as dark as night, hovering above Anankia’s memories. The chain holding the tactician's memories was connected to the orb. That wasn’t the oddest part. This orb was massive. No mortal could gather that many memories in a lifetime. She didn’t even think that Nyx’s orb was that large, though the dark mage’s defenses could have skewed the size.

 

Tharja could wait. No time past when she was in the mind plain. She began traveling toward the orb. She then discovered that she could fly in the mind plain as easily as walking. She traveled to the orb, close enough to touch it.

 

Tharja reached out her hand. She reached past the opaque purple shell as if it was air. The swirling smoke licked her hand. It was very cold...so very cold. Tharja almost closed her eyes when a bombing voice pounded into her head.

 

**_“Ancient one, so you have come to face your mistakes. Oh, you will make so many mistakes...that is what you are faded to do. Those faceless that killed your caretakers. They were more like your parents then your real ones. The portal you couldn’t close in time._ ** **You** **_killed Severa, Owain, and Inigo. You devastated your son, leaving him without a mother and father. You devastated your mother and father. Oh, your mother. Do you know what your “death” did to her? That was part of what pushed her over the edge. You were the reason she is helping me. She just wants the pain to end. The pain that comes with a mortal life, even one as long as the hers._ **

 

**_Then you betrayed your husband. You erased his memories and left him out in the streets._ **

 

**_But he will forgive you. That is the mistake he makes. You will be cruel to him, testing all your curses and spells on him. You will ruin your daughter’s mind. And why? Why will you do that? What goal will you have in mind? Whatever is will be, you will die before you succeed. That’s all you will ever do, make mistakes after mistakes.”_ **

 

_ “Get away from me. How do you know this?”  _ Tharja screeched,” _ What are you?” _

 

**_“I am the fate all mortals must face. I am death incarnate. I am the fate of this world. No matter what you puny humans do, I will be born. My very existence is unendable. The best you could do is seal me, but each time it weakens. There is no song to destroy me. Even the weapon fated to end me can only seal me._ **

 

Tharja filled with unexplainable rage _ “If we could defeat Anankos, I’m sure we could destroy you!” _

 

**_“See that’s the problem. ‘We’ isn’t here. It's just you, Asugi, and Caeldori. How important were you in defeating Anankos? You barely helped. You don’t have the Omega Yato. You don’t have the Fujin Yumi, Siegfried, Rajinto, or Brynhildr. You can’t ‘You are the oceans gray waves’ me to death. All you have is a single sword. Not even a true sacred weapon. I control the dragon’s blood, and even that is weak by now. The thing you call a ‘Fire Emblem’ is pitiful. It's the best the wretched Naga could create._ **

 

**_Every card is stacked against you, for I am the destroyer of worlds, the final fate, the inevitable; THE FELL DRAGON GRIMA!”_ **

 

Tharja was pushed backwards onto the “ground”. The landing didn’t hurt.

 

What was that thing? How did it know all the secrets, information lost to the sands of time?

 

The thing had called himself Grima, like the dragon deity of Plegia. It spoke about ending the world, something not even the most fanatical Grimleal ever mentioned. They raved and raved about sacrificing themselves for the coming of Grima, but never the end of the world. The white plain flashed, showing the inside of the tent for a moment.

 

_ “No..no...no” _ Tharja had always been practically good at magic, probably from her mother’s blood. This spell, although usually challenging for any mage and straight out impossible for other mages, came easily to her. She had never had it flicker on her before.

 

It was probably Grima’s fault. She needed to hurry back to Gaius’s mind before the spell faded.

 

Tharja “ran” back to the tent and touched Gaius’s mind. She quickly channelled every single memory in the stone through her body. For speed’s sake, she tried not to look at any memories, even those that stood out more than others.

 

Once she had funneled every memory into the now larger orb she walked back to the approximate place where she was sitting before the rite. But before she could, the white plain flickered out and died.

 

Tharja put out her hands behind her to keep herself from falling. Gaius was unconscious in front of her, still sitting up.

 

The dark mage quickly rearranged him in Mirel’s bedroll. If anyone came in, she would say that he passed out, and was resting in here.

 

Tharja would never tell anyone what she saw in the mind plain. They would ask why, question her power. For all intents and purposes, it shouldn’t exist. The rite was a ancient unknown rite in this time. It could also lead to problems for Anankia. Maybe it was just something that all Grimleal had. Nyx’s defenses could hide it, while Aversa’s memories were so convoluted and strange, she could've missed it. She probably wasn’t a Grimleal anyway, due to the lack of the cloak.

 

In a few minutes, Gaius let out a low groan. Tharja ran toward the bed roll and bent down. Gaius had propped himself up on his elbows and turned to look at Tharja. “Rhajat” he said.

 

Tears started filling in Tharja’s eyes. She lunged forward and hugged her husband. “You remember,” she whispered.

 

“Yes, yes I do,” he said, whispering into her ears.

 

Tharja leaned back onto her knees. “And you don’t hate me?”

 

“I understand you did what you needed to do. It just feels so weird. I have so many memories were I didn’t know who I was. It was just so strange.”

 

“So, do you want the ring, I was going to give you. Or is it weird since it's kinda mine?”

 

Tharja let out a laugh. Not a maniacal laugh of shadow, but a pure laugh of sunshine. “Whatever you want..Asugi”

 


	8. Cordelia

Cordelia yawned, stretching in her bedroll. She turned to her side and saw that Libra had already left, probably to chop firewood for morning breakfast.

 

“ _ Wow,”  _ she thought. Last night she had gone to bed with thoughts of Lucina in her head. She still couldn’t believe that the mysterious “Marth” was actually Chrom’s daughter from the future! She had also said that she had traveled to the past with other children, children of members of the army.

 

Cordelia’s stomach rumbled. “Oh, I guess I should go eat, no use just thinking.” The pegasus knight stood up and began changing into her battledress. After strapping on her chestplate(the rest of her armor was in the armory) she stepped outside. The entire camp was gathered in a rough circle around the fire pit, chatting and eating.

 

“Hello Cordelia,” Libra said. He had ran up to met her. “I’m glad to see you’re awake,” He was holding out a metal bowl containing a soup filled with chunks of meat and vegetables. “You need to eat before we start marching,”

 

“Yes, yes, I know.” The two of them found an empty spot on the grass to sit down. Although they were married, their relationship was anything except for romantic. After Chrom had been married, Libra had come to the pegasus academy to cash in on a bet they made during the first war. If Chrom got married to anyone other than Cordelia, they would both get married. Libra was more of a nagging mother than anything else. He would remind Cordelia to eat and keep her from burning herself out working.

 

Cordelia began spooning the soup into her mouth. She didn’t know what was in it, but that was how army rations worked. Maybe lunch or dinner could be an actual meal, but breakfast was always this watery soup.

 

Cordelia looked over to see Chrom, Anankia, and Lucina pouring over maps in the front of the camp. They looked deep in thought and were arguing. Flavia and Basilio were nowhere to be found, which was odd as they were normally present at strategy meetings.

 

As Libra and Cordelia were just finishing up their meal, Chrom stood up onto, with Anankia and Lucina at his sides. As soon as he started to clear his throat, everyone stopped eating and turned to face their leader.

 

“Everyone, as you have probably already heard, Lucina here is my daughter from the future. She has come from a ruined future to prevent the rise of the Fell Dragon Grima. We,” Chrom motioned to the women standing at his sides,”have decided the best course of action for now is to stay on our current path against Valm and Walhart. However, I have sent the Feroxean Guard ahead to hold of the Valmese on the coast and prep the ships. Instead of joining them, we will follow known leads on the locations of the children who followed Lucina back to the past. Today we will be traveling to a nearby village. Not only have we head tales of a secret Valmese force gathering nearby, but we may be able to find one of the children who accompanied Lucina.”

* * *

 

The army stood in the sand, looking up at a towering stone fortress. It was one of the many fortresses abandoned due to the peace treaty with Plegia. It was now housing the Valmese deserters terrorizing nearby towns.

 

“Cordelia and Sumia,” Anankia said, looking ahead,”go ahead of us with your battle partners. The mages will follow.”

 

“Yes, ma'am,” Cordelia replied as Libra hopped on the back of her pegasus. Both of the knights flicked their reins, and the pegasi flew off toward the fortress.

 

Cordelia flew ahead on her pegasus, skimming the sand and kicking up dust behind her. When she was nearing the entrance, someone standing in front of her caused her to stop her mount in its tracks.

 

She recognized the girl standing in front of her. The determined look on her face, the way she held her sword, the way she stood, preparing for battle. No..it couldn’t be her. She was younger. Her hair was the wrong color, a pale blonde, rather than the vibrant red, the same color as her own hair.

 

Seeing Cordelia, the girl sheathed her sword and stood normally, but her face didn’t soften. “ ...Oh, gods.” she said, a look of horror entering her face,”It's you.”

 

No..no...no! It couldn’t be her. “H-have we met?” Cordelia choked out,”If so, I'm afraid I've quite forgotten.”

 

“Well, excuse me for being so forgettable!” Se-the girl said, making the same recognizable rise in tone as her mother did when even slightly annoyed.

 

“Um, Cord,” Libra whispered, gently poking her in the back,”the rest of the army is coming. Maybe you should get moving.”

 

Cordelia nodded. Pushing all thoughts from her mind, she responded,”Look, there's no time for this. If you're a friend, speak now. If not, then stay out of Chrom's way or I'll have to cut you down.”

 

“Chrom, Chrom, Chrom!” the girl said, her pitch rising with each word,”It's ALWAYS Chrom with you!”.

 

“...I'm sorry?” Cordelia said. What was going on here? If this even was her mom, how would she know about Chrom. Cordelia hadn’t met Chrom until after she had died. No..no..no.. Cordelia pushed all thoughts of her mother out of her mind. If she didn’t, she would have to consider the unthinkable.

 

“You should be!” The girl stopped raising the pitch of her voice, her annoyance shifting to anger,”And I don't care about your stupid Chrom, so you can just drop it! ...I only want to talk to Holland.”

 

“Holland?” Cordelia’s pegasus had been in the air for so long, it had dropped down and now stood on the stand.

 

“Yes, Holland! That sad sack over there.” The girl motioned to the fortress,”Watch my back so I can get to him safely, and then I'll help your stupid army!”

 

“O...okay?” The girl had already started running back toward the fortress.

 

“Oh, and Holland's not here of his own will, so don't you dare hurt him!” The girl had paused her running, turned around, skidding in the sand to deliver the message and then she continued running.

 

“What was that?” Anankia asked, running up to where Cordelia was, with the rest of the army behind her.

 

“I- don’t-some girl,” Cordelia choked out. A battle was coming up, she would have to block out all her thoughts and remain focused. Focus on the swinging of the spear, the clanking of enemy weapons, the beating of her pegasus's wings.

 

“She said that if she were to find her friend, another prisoner, she would join the army. They both seem to be here due to some debt,” Libra said. He was very sensitive to Cordelia’s reactions to things, so he must of been keeping a secret from the army.

 

“Well in that case, we should go ahead and keep her from being killed,” Anankia said, scribbling something into her tactics book.

 

Luckily, Cordelia was able to block out her thoughts of the strange girl and focused on the battle. The mercenary would sometimes run way ahead of the army and Mirel would have to use her Rescue staff to keep her from running into the enemies’ blades. Eventually, she was able to speak with her friend and the Ylissean League was able to kill the disserter.

 

Cordelia, Chrom, Anankia, Libra, and the girl were rummaging around the treasure room. The Ylisseans were looking for the items that had been stolen from the village as “tribute”, while the girl was looking for what Nelson stole for her. Without her balanced spear swinging in her hand and the killing calm blocking out her emotions, Cordelia could again be worried by what the girl’s existence implied.

 

The girl was looking through a jeweling box when she pulled out a small black object. “Yes, here it is!” she said, holding it above her head. Seeing the object, Cordelia’s hand instinctively moved to her ring finger, feeling that her mother’s wedding ring(now hers).

 

Chrom turned to the blonde haired girl. “Is that a ring?”

 

“It's MY ring, and I'll thank you to stop staring so lustily at it!” she said, holding it to her chest,”It's worth more than anything in the world to me... That rat Nelson stole it one night while I was sleeping.”

 

“Well, I'm glad you were able to get it back.” Chrom said, turning back to the items he was sorting through.

 

“...Hmph,” she said, slipping the ring onto her finger. She moved over to where Cordelia was sorting through some jewels.

 

“Oh. ...You”. Cordelia said, as the hole of despair in her stomach deepened as she saw the ring on the mercenary's finger, an exact replica of the one on her finger.

 

“Wh-what do you want?!” The girl, said, panic filling her eyes.

 

Cordelia looked at the jewels, refusing to meet such familiar eyes. “Just to thank you for helping us. You fought bravely, er…”

 

“Severa. ...My name's Severa.” the girl said, fiddling with a golden chain.

 

_ “Severa,”  _ Cordelia thought, testing the syllables in her head,” _ Severa, not Selena,” _

 

Severa was looking at the pegasus knight oddly, noting her silence.

 

“It suits you somehow.” she said, giving out a reply,”Oh, and my name—”

 

“Cordelia. I know.” she said.

 

The crown Cordelia was inspecting fell to the ground with a clang. Her breathing began to speed up. “Er, yes, that's... But how did you...? I'm sorry, did I introduce myself before?”

 

“I guess you must have if I know your name. Gods…” Severa replied, not noticing Cordelia’s reaction, as she tossed the chain back to the pile.

 

Cordelia turned away as tears fell down her cheeks. Her mother always said that she looked like her grandmother, but was she? How could she be her own grandmother? The knight didn’t know. She didn’t know what this meant, but there was still a possibility “I...I see. Well, thank you all the same, _Severa._.” she replied, putting extra emphasis on the girl’s name.

 

Severa moved in front of Cordelia, waving her hands in the air. “You already said that! And besides, it's not like I did anything special. I was just fighting to get back what's rightfully mine.”

 

As Severa was flinging her arms around, the light from the window illuminating the black band. “Are you referring to that ring?” Cordelia asked. Even without a closer look, she knew what the carvings on the ring meant. The long flowing Hosidan dragon, intertwined with stocky Nohrian dragon represented the love between her mother and father. Selena had told her the story of how the ring was made many times in the Deaprealms. Selena’s original ring had cracked during the war in a battle against a Vallite soldier. The ring on Cordelia’s finger now, the one Subaki made, was all she had of her mother, lying in an unmarked grave with a disfigured face.

 

 Severa stepped closer, showing her ring, the carvings clearly visible. Cordelia felt the ring on her finger start to heat up, as did Severa’s as she brought her hand close to her chest.

 

“Oh, goodness. It looks exactly like... “ Cordelia said, not even trying to stop the tears as she fell to her knees “Ah, I see. That would explain how you know my name. You're a friend of Lucina's, aren't you? ...And you're my child. Isn't that right?”

 

Thoughts swirled through her head. If her future self gave Severa the ring, which was modeled after the ring, Sel-Severa had, what was the origin of the ring? How could she be both her mother and grandmother. All these thoughts overwhelmed the soldier.

 

Steeling herself, Cordelia stood up, hoping no one else saw her moment of weakness. As she stood up, her  _ daughter  _ mumbled something. The only word Cordelia could catch was “lonely”.

 

“What was that?” Cordelia said, wiping her tears away with her glove.

 

Severa had begun walking towards the door. Suddenly she turned around and yelled “I SAID, I thought you'd be lonely, so I came here to see you! ...You're welcome,” hostility showing throughout her body.

 

Cordelia smiled the way you do when someone tells you a joke when you are sad. “That's very sweet.”

 

“D-don't mock me! You don't care! You don't care at all…” Severa choked out, tears starting to form in her eyes. The other people in the room had noticed and begun to watch.

 

“H-how could you possibly think that? I'm thrilled beyond words to meet you.” Cordelia could speak with her mother again, hear her voice crack, see her get upset over little things. Even if she could never know the truth….

 

“...Then why'd you leave me?” she screeched, tears streaming down her face,”You said you had to go off to fight for what really mattered, and you never came back! You picked Chrom over me!”

 

“You have me at a disadvantage,Sel- _ Severa _ . I can't answer for my future self. But when I said I was fighting for what mattered, I probably meant you. I'd want nothing more than to build a world where you could grow up happy and strong. At least, that's what I want right now.”

 

Severa’s shoulders dropped. “You think I don't know that...? I mean, I DO know that, but…” Severa grabbed her face with her hands.

 

Cordelia approached, grasping her  _ daughter’s  _ hands in her own. “I'm sorry I wasn't a better mother to you.”

 

Severa looked up “Well, you're still MY mother,” her usual spunk returning to her voice,”which makes you the best mother in the world.”

 

“And the luckiest, it seems.” she said, resting her head on her daughter’s. She would treat Severa as her daughter, not her mother. Treat her the way she wanted Selena to raise her. Maybe that would give some other timeline’s Caeldori better childhood.

 

“Oh, Mom, I missed you so much!” Severa said, the two embracing in a hug. Cordelia marveled at the fact Severa was shorter than her. This would remind her to treat her as a daughter. The girl standing before her was the daughter, not her mother. “I...I'm sorry I was so mean... I just... I didn't want to lose you again... Promise you won't leave, okay? Promise!”

 

“I promise.” she whispered into Severa’s ear as she let the tears flow.


	9. Severa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 years after the defeat of Grima, Severa finds a white cloaked figure stalking through the castle. Chasing after him starts her on a new adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry about how all the chapter weren't posted at once even though they were already all on fanfiction.net. Since fanfiction.net deletes the original docs and you can't copy and paste from their website, I had to reformat them from the google drive backups)

Severa strode down the fancy halls of the Ylissean castle. She hated this. Every year since the war ended, all of the soldiers gathered in the capital. Two years ago it made more sense, as Anankia had been found and everyone had been eager to reunite with her. Now it was just pomp and fancy talk. Sure it made sense for people like Chrom and Virion, but she was just a mercenary living out in the highlands of Valm.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Severa spied a figure wearing a white cloak. Turning to the hallway where she saw them, she called out. “Anankia is that you?”. Walking down the corridor and turning into the parallel hallway, she chased after the person, the golden sewed hem of her dress brushing against her leg. As much as she cared for looking like a lady, she’d take pants over dresses and skirts anyday.

 

_ Oofh. _ Jumping away on her still battle trained reflexes, she saw a confused Owain standing their. “What are you doing you big oaf?”

 

“As the hero of light I am, I was following the white cloaked intruder of this fine castle. I simply wish to inquire him of his purpose my fair lady.” he replied with his usual flair.

 

“Owain, look you can drop the act. I’m chasing after them too.” she said, her body dropping out of a fighting stance.

 

“Well then, let us apprehend the intruder together.” Owain stuck out his hand in the direction they had run off to “For justice.”

 

The duo headed down the hallway, seeing no sign of the white cloaked figure. Passing by closed doors and turning a few corners, they eventually found themselves back in the main ballroom.

 

“Great! thanks to that studded tongue of yours, we’ve lost them!” Severa whispered as she scanned the ballroom, finding no sign of the mysterious figure. Several hallways lead to the ballroom and they could've headed down any one of them.

 

“We simply need to ask these fine people if they had seen the intruder. A chance to speak with our old comrades again after we haven’t seen most in a year shouldn’t be passed up.” Owain suggusted.

 

“Yeah..yeah, whatever,” Severa said, making a bored waving motion with her hand,”just don’t spend all your time talking,” Without bothering to notice where Owain went off to, she headed toward the snack table at the far end of the room, dodging the couples dancing with her quick feet.

 

Just as she was nearing the end of the table, she felt a light brush on her shoulder. Whipping around she was confronted with Inigo twirling a rose in his fingers. Behind him were three fancy noble girls. They probably got in due to their noble fathers claiming that they had a part in the war effort.

 

“Why hello there,” Inigo said, one of his eyebrows rising.

 

“Put a cap on it pretty boy,” Severa shot back. “I’m looking for a strange person in a white cloak who passed through it. Just tell me what you saw and you can get back to  _ them _ .” She shot the women behind her friend a look.

 

“Oh, a guy in a white cloak. Yeah, think I saw him going out that hallway over there,” he said, pointing to the hallway to their left with a flick of his wrist.

 

“Good, thanks,” Severa said, starting to walk away. From behind her she heard Inigo say,”See you latter ladies, I have some business to attend to”.

 

Inigo skipped up to Severa as she was looking for Owain. “Pretty boy, I told you, I don’t need your help. You can get back to those ladies, no need to make sacrifices for me.”

 

“Naw, those frillies were getting kinda boring. Besides, I need some excitement to help me get away from court life,”

 

“Argh, fine. You can’t be much more irritating than Owain.” As they were walking, Owain caught up with them.

 

“Sadly, I was unable to procure any information about the entirety of our mark.” he said.

 

“Oh, shut up. We aren’t assassins. Anyway, Inigo saw him leave. He’s got to tag along though.”

 

The trio walked through the hallway. Luckily the path never branched, but there were many twists and turns.

 

Soon they came out to the castle walls. The moonlight shone off the stone. It could almost be romantic, if Severa wasn’t with the two most annoying people she knew.

 

As they walked, they saw the lone white figure standing just outside the castle. How he got out there was a mystery, as this was on the other side of the castle as the gates. The moonlight shone of their cloak, making them like a beacon.

 

“So, how we’re gonna get down there?” Inigo asked.

 

“I think I know a way.” Severa replied. During the war, she, like many of the other children had been raised in this very castle. Even though many parts were different, she believed the passageway she and Lucina had used to drive their caretakers crazy was part of the castle's original design. She kicked at a couple of stones, trying to find the right on. She didn’t care if it damaged her fancy shoes, this was more important. She found the stone that was raised slightly above the others, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye and stepped down on it.

 

Behind her she heard a slow  _ screech.  _ Turning around, she saw the black gaping darkness of the secret passageway. She walked toward it and started making her way down the latter.

 

She looked up,”Come on guys. We can get out there in time if we use this way.” She continued down the latter, the smell of dust filling her nose. As Owain and Inigo entered the passageway, they blocked the light. Feeling for rungs, the trio made it down.

 

As Severa jumped down to the ground, she felt along the wall for a break in the stone. Feeling, she found a torch in a holder and a sulfur streaked brick to light it against. Swiping the torch, she illuminated the small bare room they had entered. Both of her companion’s fancy clothing were covered in dust. The look of shock on their face made her smile. As Lucina and Severa were exploring the castle, Inigo was being trained in fancy royal stuff per Virion’s request and Owain was generally causing trouble.

 

“Stop standing ‘round like numbleskulls. We can’t let them get away this time.” Severa snapped.

 

Nodding quickly, Owain and Inigo followed Severa down the short tunnel. At the end Severa snuffed the torch out on the wall and started climbing up the latter at the end.

 

After pushing away a stone on the other side of the wall, the trio found themselves confronted with the mysterious figure.

 

Hearing Severa’s approached, they whipped around. “Please, save my kingdom!” he said. You could clearly hear the insanity and desperation in his voice.

 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Severa said, slowly approaching the man as if he was a skittish horse. “What in Naga’s name are you talking about?”

 

“My name is Anankos.” He said, his voice calming down. “And you are Severa, Inigo, and Owain, I presume?”

 

“How do you know our names?” Owain asked.

 

“I know many things. You are three of the people who helped defeat the Fell Dragon Grima.” he replied, keeping his head down as the wind ruffled through his cloak.

 

“Okay...okay. So what kingdom needs saving?” Inigo inquired.

 

The man reached into his cloak, pulling out a folded piece of parchment. "If you trust me, follow this map and meet with me on the night of the next full moon," he said, stretching out his arm.

 

“Err, okay.” Severa said, grabbing the piece of parchment. As she began to unfold it, Owain’s gasp caused her to look up.

 

The man who stood there was gone, completely gone. All that was left were some white petals, floating away on the wind.

 

“What the hell,” Inigo said, squinting his eyes as if he wasn’t sure what he had just witnessed.

 

“Okay, now we need some answers,” Severa said as she finished unfolding the parchment. It was a map of Valm. However, none of the kingdoms were marked. The only landmarks were one at a point in the north of the continent, approximately the location of the Chon'sin capital. It was a swirling green circle with a castle with pointed roofs under it. Neat calligraphy spelt out the words “Chon’sin: Geosphere”.

 

Below that was a complex tree, a blue circle at its base. The words “Voice’s Tree: Starsphere” were under it. An arrow pointed to the tree with a message in blue ink by it. “MEET ME HERE. MILA TREE, I THINK”. The words were written in wild printing, a stark contrast from the neat handwriting of the original cartographer.

 

“As heroes of justice, we must solve this mystery. We will set out to the Mila Tree to save this man’s kingdom.” Owain, proclaimed as he read over Severa’s shoulder.

 

Severa shot him a look. “What my friend he is trying to say,” Inigo said,” is that we should probably met this guy. I mean, who doesn’t love a good mystery. Beside, he could actually have a kingdom that needs saving.”

 

“Okay fine. We’ll visit Inigo in Rossane and set off to the Mila Tree on time.” Severa replied, folding the map back up. “I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, but it better not spiral out of control,”

 

As Severa and her friends walked back to the castle, they were unaware of just how much this would spiral out of control. They would crush their parent’s hearts, and the heart’s of their spouses. After spending years in a strange land, they would finally lose hope and start living life to the fullest. They would remarry and have kids. Still bound by some ill born sense of duty to their old land, they would attempt to return. They would draw in three more poor souls and drop them in a strange land, just as they were.

 

Many people’s hearts will be broken. But it was all necessary. The well being of several people mean nothing if it is what must be done to save the world, not once, but twice. Anankos would be killed and society would flourish. Even when it collapsed and the legacy of Valla was lost to the winds of time another dragon would rise. This time, three lost souls would help save the world, and set the path for three more to be born, three other who would also save the world.

 

Sacrifices must be made.

 

….

 

Even if it breaks their heart, their soul, their love, their hope.


End file.
